The Navy has overhauled the selection process for Blue Angels pilots after a whistleblower exposed misbehavior on the elite air-show team, which included pornography and sexually-charged antics mixed with official business.

For the first time, personnel records of finalists will get in-depth scrutiny, and the chief of naval air training will have final authority over who is chosen for naval aviation’s premiere unit. Previously, only the squadron itself chose new members.

Just as the Navy is rolling out changes designed to put the Blue Angels house back in order, U-T San Diego has obtained copies of explicit comments and images that officers posted on the team’s cellphone messaging program sometime between 2011 and 2012.

The messages — which include photos of male genitalia, breasts and other nudity, homophobic slurs and sexist references — involved at least nine officers. At least three of the team’s current pilots were among the violators.

Navy officials said last week that they have already come clean about those officers’ improper conduct, including publicly releasing an investigation that “accurately characterized the details of ‘raunchy,’ ‘homophobic’ and ‘pornographic’ texts and images communicated between Blue Angels team members,” according to a statement sent to U-T San Diego.

Vice Adm. David Buss, commander of Naval Air Forces in Coronado, said in a separate statement: “The Navy acted quickly and decisively to hold the right people accountable. ... I am confident the Blue Angels have corrected their deficiencies and will continue to serve our nation in a manner consistent with the highest standards expected by the American public.”

The investigation also referenced girlie photos placed in cockpits, air-show footage that singled out women in the crowd viewed as good-looking and even a rooftop painting of a penis so large that it was visible to satellites.

U.S. taxpayers spend $35 million annually to fund the Blue Angels, a budget that supports a team of roughly 110 service members, including 16 officers.

The Blue Angels case shows the Navy’s challenge in trying to set a new tone across the fleet concerning sexual harassment and assault.

In the past few years, the Navy and other U.S. armed services have put intense effort into preventive education. In May 2013, for example, the Pentagon ordered all racy photos removed from military offices and work spaces.

Critics have countered that forcing political correctness on the military weakens what is by necessity a tough-skinned group.

Turbulence on this issue for the Blue Angels started in March with a complaint from a woman on the team who alleged gender discrimination in pilot choice, in addition to accusations of a toxic work environment.

No woman has ever held the most high-profile job in the squadron — F/A-18 demonstration pilot. Women have served in other roles. In July, the Navy chose the first woman to pilot the C-130 "Fat Albert" support plane in the show.

A Navy investigation, released on June 3, exposed the misconduct. The commanding officer during the targeted time frame, Coronado-based Capt. Greg McWherter, received a career-ending punitive letter of reprimand.

The investigation concluded that there was no gender discrimination in pilot choice. But because the recruitment process is subjective – applicants “rush” the team and then Blue Angels pilots vote for who they like – the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander ordered a review. The result of that analysis: Extra scrutiny of candidates, which went into effect when the Navy chose the 2015 team announced on July 22.

“It’s an extra layer of transparency and oversight to the process, so it’s not all done in-house. There’s a check outside of the command,” said Cmdr. Jeannie Groeneveld, spokeswoman for the Naval Air Forces commander.

The other change is the addition of an executive officer, now the No. 2 position in the squadron and a peer to the commanding officer.

Previously, the squadron skipper was surrounded by much younger junior officer pilots. In McWherter’s case, the Navy found that he allowed and joined in their jokes, instead of setting a more business-like tone.

The first Blue Angels executive officer is 45-year-old Cmdr. Bob Flynn. An S-3B Viking naval flight officer and 1992 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he will focus on administrative tasks instead of flying with the squadron.

While the Navy focused punishment on McWherter, it also issued formal written counseling to an unknown number of Blue Angels members. That action is considered non-punitive and may or may not affect their naval careers.

Last week, the U.S. Pacific Fleet wouldn’t say how many Navy personnel received the counseling letters, citing military privacy policy.

But team officers’ names are shown in documents displaying the team’s message traffic, posted through the GroupMe phone app.

More than 40 pages of these messages were mailed to U-T San Diego by an anonymous person. The cover page read, “Enclosed are a few of the text messages sent by members of the Blue Angels. It amazes me that the public supports this behavior.”

A U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman verified that the pages were the ones scrutinized in a Navy Inspector General investigation.

U-T San Diego decided to not publish most of the images and comments because of their graphic nature.

The content included several close-up photos of male genitals that were posted to the team’s group message board with comments such as “put your pants on!” and “I love you guys.”

There are also pictures of unidentified men mooning the camera, full-frontal nudity of both men and women, and dog and monkey genitals.

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Those posts are interspersed with business-like messages, such as where the team should meet for the caravan to an airfield.

The Navy investigation said the team’s officers had to follow the GroupMe message traffic to receive needed team information.

Cmdr. Tom Frosch, the current team commanding officer, was praised in the Navy investigation for re-establishing the proper tone for the team once he took over from McWherter in November 2012.

However, a homophobic slur was posted from Frosch’s phone, according to the documents. It said, “Hey hon. I’ve lost my penis. I’m joining the diamond and they are a bunch of ----, but I want to be ---- with them.”

Behind the scenes, Navy officials said Frosch denies posting that message, alleging that someone else did it from his phone when he first joined the Blue Angels.

“Cmdr. Frosch says he did not send that text, which we confirmed was sent from his unsecured phone just prior to taking command of the Blue Angels,” said a Navy official familiar with the investigation. “What was written strongly indicates that someone else sent the text from his unsecured phone as a prank in very poor taste.”

Frosch flies in the team’s diamond formation. There’s a long-standing rivalry between the team’s diamond pilots and solo pilots. People familiar with the team said it doesn’t make sense that Frosch would make fun of the other diamond pilots.

None of the other officers who posted sexually explicit or off-color texts — including currently serving demonstration pilots Lt. Cmdr. John Hiltz, Maj. Brandon Cordill and Lt. Cmdr. David Tickle — chose to comment when contacted for this story.

Navy officials confirmed last week these officers were investigated and found culpable to some measure, but they objected to publicly identifying them.

“While the Navy neither condones nor tolerates their behavior, we are disappointed that any media organization would choose to publicly release the names of these individuals who have already been held justly accountable,” the Navy said in a statement to U-T San Diego.

The U-T is naming the pilots who still serve because they continue to represent the nation in one of its highest-profile military units.

McWherter, the former commanding officer under whose supervision the team veered off course, is going through the process that follows an administrative punishment, Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Darryn James said.

His comments in the group messages are off-color but not pornographic. In one exchange, Hiltz posts, “Cougars on the prowl in the lobby.”

McWherter: “Just came from there. Couldn’t finish my workout in the gym so I knocked out a couple of sets of push-ups in the lobby. Nbd.”

McWherter: “I feel like a scratching post.”

It’s unknown at this time whether McWherter will be allowed to retire at his current rank of captain or will be demoted, which is something that he could appeal.